


What A Difference!

by Shan_Kyohaku



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF, Queen (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Reader Insert, Wedding, age gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-26 14:20:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19007551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shan_Kyohaku/pseuds/Shan_Kyohaku
Summary: Joe has always had a crush on you since he was young but you’re four years older than him and it has always been a struggle. Now that you’re adults, things could be different.





	What A Difference!

To say that Joe was just a friend would be a lie. You would say that he might be the closest friend you’ve ever had, while you’d be his greatest friend in his entire life. Your father and his dad were the greatest of friends, so of course their children would be hanging out with each other quite often. So for the earlier statement on being Joe’s greatest friend is not a lie. You were four years older than him so of course you’d be on the list of people he’s known for so long. You could find yourself in his baby pictures, including when he was just born. Like stated, your dads were great friends.

Four years wasn’t too bad of a difference. Except it was for Joe. All his life. Scratch the whole “greatest” and “closest” friends thing. You were his bestest friend. The issue is, he’s had a crush on you since he was eight. He could remember the first time he took in your appearance at that age. You were sweet and pretty and easy to get along with. Even though you were older, you never treated him like a baby and that’s what he appreciated. Not like your other siblings, especially your sister who was only a year older than him. (When she found out that age gets you to places, she couldn’t help but flaunt it). Not only that, but since you were above him, he was able to go to you for all his problems, as you weren’t too far away from the experiences he was going through. Since you’ve been there and done it, it helped having time to grow and learn from each experience, you always were the one to get the best advice from.

He remembered the time how he was to attend his audition for Jurassic Park. He was a nervous wreck as he knew who Steven Spielberg was and how much of a big deal he his. You weren’t into the actual acting business but you were one of the main roles for your school play a year ago and so you used that experience to help him with this big deal. You told him that it would be like every other audition that he’s done before, to not mind who the director is and that if he tried too hard, his best wouldn’t shine. You made sure to tell him to practice his lines and do what he feels is right and that if he didn’t get the role, it’s not the end of the world. He paid attention to every word you said, knowing that you could never be wrong and because of that advice, he got to play Tim Murphy.

Your teenage years was what made things a little awkward. You knew about his young boy crush but you always thought he’d get over it eventually. That’s when you realized that he never really did as he got jealous with the boyfriends you had throughout high school. But there was one point in time that made you feel all sorts of strange when you caught him and his friends sneaking a peek from your bedroom door while you were changing to go for a night out with some friends. You felt a strange shift in the air whenever you were around him especially since you didn’t go after him about it, not wanting to embarrass him.You never caught him doing it again but he couldn’t look you in the eyes afterwards. That’s when you took it upon yourself to sort it all out.

“Joe, can we talk?” You asked him one day catching him while he was walking his bike back to his house.

He took a slight peek at you and stopped right where he was, looking around the neighborhood in a nervous manner. “Uh, yeah, sure. What do you want to talk about?”

“That night I caught you and your friends peeking at me.” You said a bit sternly to make sure he wouldn’t take this lightly.

“You’re not gonna tell my mom are you!? I’m so sorry! I wasn’t trying to peek at you I swear!” He panicked.

“Joe! Relax! I’m not going to tell your mom. I just wanna talk about what happened that night. You’re acting really weird and I really want to help you.”

“R-really? I didn’t mean too! I swear!” He felt guilty, that was certain. He was also scared from that day on. He had no idea on what to do and usually when he didn’t know what to do, he would go to you but he couldn’t do that. He thought that since you didn’t confront him that day, he would play along as if nothing happened. Joe thought he was doing a real good job at it since you never came to him but at this very moment, he realized that even though he was a child actor, he somehow couldn’t act his way around you.

“Then what happened?”

“I was hanging out with your brother in his room with our other friends, your mom called him downstairs and he took awhile and the other guys started getting bored. I waited and they left and then they called me over saying there’s something I should see and took me to your bedroom door. I swear I didn’t know what they were showing me and by the time they did you already caught me!” Joe expressed without taking a single breath of air. He was letting out his guilty confession as it was festering over time. He kept looking at you with pleading eyes, praying that you believed him. He knew better and he only hoped you didn’t look at him differently afterwards. He didn’t want to ruin his chances with you.

“It’s ok, Joe,” You place a hand to his shoulder in order to comfort him. “I understand. You didn’t know what you got yourself into and before you knew it, all of this happened.”

“I’m really sorry, Y/N. I just didn’t know what to do after that and I was afraid that if I brought it up, you wouldn’t want to be friends with me anymore. I didn’t want to make you feel weird or anything…” He said as his voice calmed down from his franticness.

You gave a small smile at his thoughtfulness. You thought for a split second that he was being a little creep but after the days that followed, he was always so nervous and you knew that he was too nice of a boy to try and do something so scandalous like that.

You pull him in for a hug with a reassuring pat on his back. “Aw, Joe, how could I possibly stop being friends with you! You had me worried from how quiet you were all the time and I didn’t want to say anything in front of anyone.”

“So you forgive me?” He looked up at you.

“Of course! I get what happened and I get that you were embarrassed. I can’t stay mad at you!”

From that day on, Joe couldn’t help but look at you differently from before. If anything, his little crush on you turned even bigger. You had his absolute trust and although he had plenty of people in his life to trust, he looked up to you more than anyone else in the world.

Throughout the years you two have seen each other at family get togethers and each year, you two made sure to have some quality time with one another. Especially now that you two are older and are able to connect better than when you were younger. These get-togethers provided an insight as to what kind of person Joe has come to be and honestly, you never felt closer to anyone except him.

Tonight was a special event. It was your brothers wedding and although it was small and took place at your parents backyard, there was a large crowd. He made sure to invite everyone, including the Mazzello clan. And that’s when you saw him. He was all dapper and clean cut with a nicely fitted suit that looked made for an actor. You always thought he was handsome but for some reason tonight, with the air full of love and everyone enjoying themselves, he was especially someone you wanted to look at for a good while. You didn’t meet up with him right away but after the ceremony you made a beeline for the drinks to calm your nerves before finding Joe.

As it turns out, Joe had the same exact thought. When he entered the backyard, he took sight of you. Like you, he always thought you were beautiful but tonight you glowed in your simple dress and heels and your loosely twirled hair that was done in a low bun. You looked free and natural, how he always liked. The fact that it was your brother getting married made him worried that maybe you were next to be standing in front of friends and family with your significant other. He could already feel his heart racing and was in desperate need to loosen up.

Once the both of you noticed each other in the occupied kitchen, you both swallowed your anxieties and leant in to each other for a hug and kisses on each others cheek. “Wow, Y/N, you look just…absolutely incredible.” Joe says as he pulls away with a gentle hand on your waist.

“Thank you! You look…really good tonight.” You say as you eye him up and down hoping that the way you said that didn’t come out sounding all yearnful. Oh no, that’s exactly what I’m feeling like, huh?

“Thanks!”

“I really like your suit,” You say reaching for the lapels of his suit jacket. The feeling of your delicate fingers gliding over the fabric made him want to lean in more but resisted to do so in fear of being that weird little boy all over again. “Very snazzy.”

He could only let out a nervous chuckle out as your hand went back to your side, exhaling a breath of relief along with it so you wouldn’t notice. “I know right. I tried to find something that looked good. The hard part was to find something that fitted well so I didn’t have to bother going to a tailor.”

“Well, it really does fit you good.” You gave out a smile. You didn’t know it but you looked at him a bit longingly. Joe did and could feel his cheeks rise in temperature. Did you have a thing for him? Is he reading the look on your face right?

Clearing his throat once he noticed it fell quite between you two, he then asks your preference in beverage. It was strange this time around. You two had never been this awkward with each other, or, at least, he’s never been this awkward before and he didn’t know what it was now that was causing it. Maybe it was the fact that you were both at a wedding or maybe it was because he was afraid of getting comfortable with you all over again that it reminds him that those feelings for you that never went away. He didn’t know but from the time spent on waiting to get your guys drinks to the walk to the patio, both of your nerves have completely melted away and you two were back on track on being the friends from childhood duo once more.

“Looks like your brother’s having the time of his life.” Joe points out as he sees him swinging his now wife across the dance floor. Honestly, looking at them made him yearn for that kind of happiness. His luck with women hasn’t been the best as of late and this wedding only made him realize how single he was.

“I know. I just can’t believe he got married before all of us and he’s the youngest. I’m just wondering what his secret is…” You say in a tone of aw and curiosity.

“What do you mean? You didn’t bring a date with you?” Joe’s ears perked for your response. Whether he knew it himself or not, he was hoping to hear a no. Although it may be harsh, he was hoping to hear you were having the same troubles as him and to his relief, you did come here by yourself.

“Yeah, I went out on a few dates with some guys but they were all flops so I just didn’t bother really. I mean honestly, my parents aren’t constantly asking me when am I going to find a man, which is nice, so there really wasn’t much pressure to bring anybody for the wedding. What about you? You bring anyone special?”

Joe could only laugh as he continued to look on at the dance floor. “No, uh, with work and then trying dating apps and everything else in between, no one really peaked my interest or I didn’t with there’s.”

“Hmm, well, we can be single together.” You gave a sly smile as you nudged his arm with your elbow.

Joe then goes on to laugh some more at your words. “Yeah. I much rather have that. At least with you, I’ll know what I’m getting myself into.”

You raise an eyebrow at that with a smile on your face. “Oh yeah? And what antics were you thinking we’d get into.” As soon as you said that, the DJ transitions to an oldie but a goodie. One that at the time, it was too peppy to understand that it’s lyrics were a little depressing but it’s beat was something Joe definitely wanted to dance to.

Joe stands on his nice leather dress shoes while setting his glass down and offers his hand to you. You gladly accept it as you already knew where he was leading you to. “Well for one, dancing our asses off and showing everyone our stuff.” His smile was what got you right at that moment and you really didn’t know why it took you by surprise but it did and you felt a little different than all the other times he’s smiled.

He wasted no time in showing his moves, bopping around and staring you down in a comical way. You only stood there laughing at him while nodding your head as you couldn’t believe the way he was dancing but he stuck his hand out once more. You pulled yourself into him little and bopped along with him. As one song came to an end another took its place and you two didn’t slow down at all. You were having too much fun and Joe was as well. He can admit that although you two weren’t the greatest dancers in the world, you two sure had the best energy on the dance floor, especially when together. Sure you may tripped over each others and feet and maybe stepped on a toe or two but any form of embarrassment would take place for just a second until it vanished into pure fun once more.

Once the DJ noticed that most of the guests have either sat down or started to slow down in their steam, he transitioned into a slow song. A song meant for couples. A song where you would hold each other close and whisper sweet sugar to each other. Joe took notice when he heard the first couple of notes while you kept on dancing to the end of the previous song. While you two were having fun, why not pull you in for one of these songs? You felt a hand on your waist confusing you until you noticed it was Joe’s. He only gave you knowing eyes as to ask permission. You placed your hands on his shoulders and decreased the distance between you two.

The both of you just swayed side to side smiling and chatting away. By the next song, you felt all too comfortable as you had your head resting on his shoulder while your fingers played with the ends of his hair. Joe could feel the drums playing in his chest. This was all too perfect. Too perfect for it to end. Too perfect that he wanted it to end before he fall any harder for you. He wanted it to end so he didn’t have to be reminded that there is no him and you, at least not in the way he wanted it to be. He wanted so bad for it to end but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He convinced himself that this would be a nice souvenir. A nice piece of closure so he’d know what it felt like to hold you this close.

Because of that, he found his cheek resting on your head with eyes closed. He could smell your wonderful perfume, feel the way his arm wrapped around you so well while he resisted his other hand to rub up and down your back in an affectionate way. He could only let out a deep breath as he kept on holding you close while you clinged on to him.You felt it too. The feeling of wanting to be so close to him, to do little things that would deem questionable amongst strangers if they knew you were only friends. The scene before them could only make them argue against that. You kept yourself from turning your head to face his neck and have your nose tickle the skin while you inhaled more of his rich cologne. You stopped yourself from snaking your hands to rest on his cheeks for a bit so your fingers can graze against the skin there that looked as if he only shaved recently. To be honest you liked the scruff he always tried to grow.

It was hard for the both of you to pull away from each other as soon as new upbeat song started to play. You two only stayed the way you were for a moment more but in that moment you both felt as if you were on the same page so you when you pulled away from each other slowly and timidly looked in one anothers eyes, it was for some reason not as awkward as you thought it would be.

From there, you took Joe’s wrist and pulled him inside of the house, passing all the guests that took no notice and up the staircase and down the hall. In that moment Joe would have freaked out, would have been out of his mind as to what you were planning but he wasn’t. He was calm, trusting, dazed. It’s as if he was in a complete trance, accepting of whatever you were about to do. He snapped out of it as soon as he notice where he was. Your old room. Now he was nervous.

You only pulled him down to sit with you on the side of your bed that faced the window that overlooked the backyard. Everyone was still as lively as you left them. “I’m sorry I pulled you away from the party, I just wanted a some quite for a bit.”

“No, it’s, uh, no problem.” Then it fell silent as you both looked through the window. Joe looked but he took glimpses of your hand still gripping his wrist. You were too much in the zone to care about how Joe would react about you placing your head on his shoulder as you continued to look out. Even though you were in your old room, with your family downstairs having fun, you never felt more at home than how you were situated right now. This whole thing felt too comfortable. So cozy. So at peace and it was all because you were with Joe. That’s when you noticed that this feeling was nothing new. That whenever it was just you two, you never felt more at ease, as if the world could send you a hundred problems for you to bear and yet you wouldn’t feel a single ounce of stress because Joe was next to you. That’s exactly what was going on right now but this time you were acknowledging it and you really didn’t know what to do with that truth.

“You know, when I was a lot younger, I always imagined how our wedding would’ve gone.” He had a smile on his face as he saw all that danced away and chatted. Chuckling was what came naturally to you in response.

“Oh yeah? How did it go?”

“Well I was still cute wearing a tux and you were wearing that one white flowy dress you wore for easter sunday, when you were like, what, twelve?”

“Right, the one with the giant sparkly bow in front of it. Mom was so happy when she founded it when she went out shopping.” You laughed at the memory. She was so insistent on you wearing it for the closest special occasion and easter happened to be the most available. You even remember whining to her about how you were old enough to pick your own clothes and how you should go out and buy another nice dress to wear instead of that one. In the end you gave in as she guilt tripped you about how you were growing up so fast and how she wanted this one last ditch effort into treating her baby.

You could feel the heat on your cheeks when you heard Joe laugh. “Yeah, and uh, everyone was there in a church and you were holding this really nice bouquet of daisies for some reason instead of like, I don’t know roses.” From that point, Joe just kept chuckling at himself. As he kept talking, you both didn’t realize that you were lying against his arm with your legs curled up and your hand holding onto his forearm.

This time Joe laughed harder as he remembered this small detail from his memory. “And-And there was, there was the wedding cake but ins-instead of a bride and groom, it was-it,” he couldn’t help but die at the memory. What was his eight year old mind thinking? His infectious laugh had got you going as well. “It was a T-rex and one of your old polly pockets you gave to your sister.” You snorted at his confession, leaning back further, not able to catch any air into your lungs.

“Oh my god, and there was a circus! And a bounce house! Oh my god!”

“Joe s-stop! I-I can’t breathe!” Soon enough, all the laughing died down and the both of you were able to think straight once more as the oxygen reached your brains.

“Can I just be honest with you for a minute?” He said in a more serious tone.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Back then, I thought you were, like, my one and only because you know how kids are.” You only nodded as you continued to look out of the window. “And I know, that you know how much I like you. I think it was so obvious to everyone,” Did he say like or liked? “But you never made fun of me or treated me any different and I just wanna say thanks for that.”

“Of course Joe. If anything, you’re probably my bestest friend and I couldn’t mess that up for anything.” You finish saying. Joe could only look down and chuckle.

“Yeah, that’s the thing though. I understand that me being young, it’s a lot easier to have a crush and everything but now that I’m older, where I’ve grown out of that stuff, I only come to realize that I’ve never grown out of the feelings I have for you. I know, I know, you’re not interested but I just want you to know that now that we’re both older, I know exactly how I feel and being adults, I think it’s best if you know.”

It was strange. You’ve always known and yet it still surprised you. You’ve always known and never thought much of it. Now you were thinking so many things at once and yet only one thought occurred. Your hand slid to lay atop of Joe’s hand, playing with his fingers. “Who said I wasn’t interested?”

Once he heard you say that, he turned his head to look down at you. You only took a peek at him before going back to look at your hand. “You’re not serious are you?”

“Well if you ask me, you could actually get an answer.”

“Alright…Well, do you maybe wanna go out sometime with me?”

You only turn your head to look up at him, he looked cool and collective with a small knowing smile on his face but his eyes told a different story and for some reason you didn’t want to see him all tensed up. “How about tomorrow night? Or are you busy then?”

A mental sigh of relief escaped him as he gave you a bright smile. “Tomorrow night would be fantastic…”

“Tomorrow night it is then. For now, lets just cozy up. I really don’t want to move from this spot.” You gave a wink as he only smiled bigger. This felt like one of the many dreams Joe has had in the past but to you this felt like a step towards a path you wish you done a while ago. Maybe because it had been years since anyone ever brought it up or maybe it never occured to that this could happen, that you were both adults that knew what you wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! If you reached the end, thanks! Know that I would like some Queen/Borhap Cast requests!. To make it easy on myself, I prefer if you send them to my tumblr: https://marlopoe.tumblr.com/ . If you don't have a tumblr, then go ahead and send your requests here!


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